Faculty + Staff

Contact Information

Moira O'Neill

Lecturer in City and Regional Planning, PSOE

Biography

Moira O’Neill is a Lecturer in the Department of in City and Regional Planning in the College of Environmental Design (CED), and a Lecturer at Berkeley Law (Boalt Hall). She is also an Associate Research Scientist of Law and Planning at the Institute of Urban and Regional Development, where she leads the Law and Governance Research Group. Her research is interdisciplinary, focusing on urban planning and local governance topics. Her current research projects examine the local regulation of land to increase public benefits, and builds on ten years of professional experience in legal practice and consulting.

Moira is also the co-founder and principal of a private consulting firm, The NIAM Group, which specializes in strategic planning, policy analysis, negotiation, and community development for public entities, nonprofit organizations, and the private sector. Before consulting, Moira practiced law. Specifically, she practiced law at Meyers Nave for several years where she represented cities and public entities throughout California. Prior to that, she worked at Howard Rice, a law firm in San Francisco, where she represented public universities facing complex First Amendment challenges. Her legal experience also includes clerking for the Honorable Saundra Brown Armstrong of the United States District Court, Northern District of California, serving as an extern to the Honorable Martin J. Jenkins (then of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California), and working as a law clerk in the office of the Environment and Natural Resources Unit, Civil Division, United States Attorney.

Moira received her juris doctor, Order of the Coif, from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 2006. As a law student, Moira received numerous academic honors and awards, including recognition through membership in the Thurston Society, the awarding of the Hastings Academic Excellence Scholarship annually, multiple Witkin Awards for Academic Excellence, and recognition as a 2004-2005 Regional Champion in the ABA's National Moot Court Competition. She also served as the Executive Managing Editor for the Hastings Law Journal and worked as a teaching assistant in the Legal Educational Opportunity Program for first-year Civil Procedure, Property and Environmental Law courses.

Courses Taught

City Planning 205 Introduction to Environmental Law and Planning (DCRP)